For textile machinery manufacturers and their customers, ITMA is the ‘greatest show on earth’ – attracting huge numbers of delegates eager to discover the latest technology trends and the newest machinery developments.

For textile machinery manufacturers and their customers, ITMA is the ‘greatest show on earth’ – attracting huge numbers of delegates eager to discover the latest technology trends and the newest machinery developments.

For the first time ever in Iran, Switzerland’s textile machinery manufacturers exhibited in their own pavilion at the recent Irantex show, under the umbrella of their representative body the Swiss Textile Machinery Association (Swissmem).

The Swiss textile machinery industry is strongly export-oriented and has a presence with its own companies, sales and service organisations in all the world’s key markets. Cornelia Buchwalder, Secretary General, Swissmem, speaks about the response to Swiss textile machinery globally post ITMA and how the Swiss textile machinery industry has been faring in India since the beginning of 2016.

SWISSMEM, the Swiss textile machinery industry association, celebrated its platinum jubilee just two months before ITMA 2015, which gave an opportunity for the industry to ponder over critical issues including the future of textile technologies.

A pre-ITMA press meet in Switzerland I attended recently ended with a very interesting panel discussion on two issues: Today’s technology status quo and the menace of talent exodus in textile industry. The references pertained to the Swiss textile machinery industry, but I found to my surprise it reflected the sentiments of our own industry.

M aster the Art of Sustainable Innovation’ is the avowed message for ITMA 2015 & rightly so. Humanity cannot make the Earth sick due to its greed. It is very easy to grasp the meaning of ethics in the sustainability exercise because textile manufacturing being one of the worst polluters on Earth needs to clean its act, by the R-routes -- Reuse, Reduce & Recycle.

Swissmem is the Swiss association of mechanical and electrical engineering industries (MEM industries). Swissmem was created by the merger of two associations: ASM (Association of Swiss Engineering Employers) und VSM (Swiss Association of Machinery Manufacturers).